We conducted a survey asking 1,500 US respondents whether or not they kept abreast of inflation. We used Google Surveys and targeted males and females between the ages of 18 to 65+ from coast to coast. We asked the following question with three possible responses:
Do you keep up with inflation?
- No
- Yes
- I don’t even know what inflation is
The Average American Woman Does Not Keep Up With Inflation, Especially 18 to 24-year-olds
The overwhelming response of Americans, who took part in the survey, indicated that they did not keep up with inflation. A full 56.1% chose this response.
When demographic filters were applied to the survey results factoring females, very compelling insight was discovered. The percentage leaped to 63.6% and skyrocketed to an astounding 75.1% of females between 18-and 24-years-old.
Conversely, when demographic filters targeted specifically males, 48% stated that they did not keep abreast of inflation. Of the males between 18 and 24 who responded to the survey, 59.8% chose this option.
One possible explanation for the drastic variance of the percentage between genders could be the finance sector. Although blessedly changing, positions across the spectrum of finance and business have typically been held by males – thus, making a larger percentage of males more inclined to keep up with inflation.
Males Are More inclined To Keep Abreast Of Inflation, Especially Middle-Aged Males
The second most popular response to the survey was 30.9% of respondents indicated that they did, in fact, keep up with inflation.
Yet, when demographic filters were applied focusing specifically on gender, 38.9% of male respondents stated that they kept up with inflation, while conversely, 23.5% of female respondents selected the same option.
When the demographic filters targeted middle-aged males between 45 and 64-years-old, the results soared to 42%. Because almost half of this cohort indicated that they kept up with inflation, they have the highest percentage of respondents who answered “yes” to the survey question.
These results could further be demonstrative of the fact that males, especially middle-aged males, populate a higher percentage of positions across the spectrum of finance and business, which would warrant them keeping up with inflation.
American Women Between 25 and 34-years-Old Indicate That They Don’t Know What Inflation Is
Of the American respondents who participated in the survey, 13% indicated that they didn’t even know what inflation was.
Yet, interesting insight was discovered when demographic filters were applied to the results, targeting specifically gender. 13.1% of male respondents indicated that they did not know the definition of inflation, while 12.9% of female respondents chose the same response.
However, when demographic filters focused specifically on females between 25 and 34-years-old, 18.6% of this age bracket indicated that they didn’t know what inflation was. Thus, it was the second most popular response to the survey question for this demographic.
Conclusion
Based upon the results of this survey, more than half of all Americans who responded did not keep abreast of inflation. Although a higher percentage of males who participated indicated that they did not know the definition of inflation, the highest percentage of respondents who did not know what it was were females aged 25 to 34. Yet, males, especially middle-aged males, were more inclined to keep up with it. This could be explained by the fact that as a generalization, jobs within areas of finance and business which would necessitate keeping abreast of inflation, are typically dominated by males.
Details About The Study And RMS Score
Root mean square error (RMSE) is a weighted average of the difference between the predicted population sample (CPS) and the actual sample (Google). The lower the number, the smaller the overall sample bias.
Sarah has been writing on the topics of politics, history and finance for over a decade. She is currently an editor at CPI Inflation Calculator, covering the topics of CPI, inflation, US economy and economic commentary.
